In the year 69 AD, four emperors ruled the Roman Empire in succession after the death of emperor Nero. After being declared an enemy of the state, Nero fled Rome, but then committed suicide. This ended the Julio-Claudian line and created a power vacuum that was first filled by Servius Galba. He was soon killed by the Praetorian Guard and then the Senate appointed Marcus Salvius Otho, who quickly committed suicide. Then came Vitellius and finally Vespasian, who founded the Flavian dynasty.

Despite the chaos, this would be looked upon as a transition period. This was the second dynasty in the Principate period that set the table for the Nerva–Antonine dynasty, which was arguably the empire’s greatest period. This was the phase commonly known as the “Five Good Emperors”. It is a good example of how present chaos can often be seen as the end of something, but in reality, it is the beginning of a new phase in the life of society or an empire in the case of Rome.

This is worth considering in the present moment. There is no doubt that Joe Biden cannot survive his term in office. Prior to his installation, no one thought he would run for a second term, but the hope was he could offer a quiet period so the political class could settle on someone to take the job. Joe Biden was supposed to be the resting period after the terror of Trump. Instead, the Biden rule is turning out to be far more chaotic, largely due to his failing mental health.

There are four ways to remove a sitting president. One is impeachment, which is off the table for obvious reasons. The Democrats will never do it and the Republicans, if they regained the House and Senate, are too stupid and corrupt to do it. That leaves resignation, the 25th Amendment and assassination. All three of these options are interlaced, in that the threat of the third option by the security services would force one of the first two options. The second option could force the first.

The problem with removing Biden is that the replacement is probably worse than an old man with dementia. Kamala Harris was selected because Silicon Valley executives bribed the Biden people. She represents their interests and she had the backing of key Clinton people. The trouble is she has thus far refused to grow into the job and remains a noisy moron who has little imperial support. The job of president is as the pitchman for the party, and she is too obnoxious to sell anything.

Even though the ruling elite despise the people over whom they rule, especially the white population, they are trapped in the logic of their own rhetoric. Like the emperors during the Principate, they must keep up appearances. Those early Roman emperors made a show of maintaining the Senate and the republic structures, even though they exercised exclusive power. In the American empire, the ruling elite has to maintain the polite fiction of participatory democracy.

What this means is that the removal of Biden will require a plan to quickly remove Harris and replace her with someone acceptable. Harris had zero support as a candidate in her own party. The regime media will paint her as the fulfillment of the prophecies, but the public would quickly turn on her. Installing someone who has no constituency in the ruling class, much less the public at large, makes a mockery of their claims to democracy, so Harris can be nothing more than a placeholder.

The 25th Amendment creates a process in which the legislative branch negotiates with itself on a compromise candidate to solve the crisis of an incapacitated or deranged president. There is a 21-day window for the legislature to evaluate the president’s fitness to serve. In reality, this is a negotiation window. In theory, they could force on Harris a VP that would be a co-president. The assumption being that if she got out of line, she would be removed and replaced like Biden.

All of this underscores the fact that the current regime running the American empire has the same problem Rome had with Nero. The Claudian’s had run out of competent options for emperor. Once Nero was removed, there was no option that was acceptable to the natural constituencies of the empire. This is the problem the current regime faces in Washington with Biden. Remove him from office and the scenarios look more like chaos than a solution. No one is literally better than Harris.

This may be where the American empire charts a new course. We may be headed to a period of no emperor. Biden will remain in office, doing less and less until he is reduced to a concept, rather than a real person. He will be the virtual president. Meanwhile, the two sides of the uniparty will push forward their plans to reorganize the empire to fit their image of themselves. The formerly $3.5T “Build Back Better” plan, which is now $5T, just moved along in the House, meaning it will pass this year.

This means the other side of the uniparty, the Republicans, will be allowed to “win” the midterms next fall. They will get to manage the implementation of a massive spending bill that is not actually written. That’s right. This massive reorganization plan for the empire is not written down anywhere. It is just a framework to be filled in after it passes and is signed into law. The 2024 “election” will be over how best to finish the work of reorganizing the empire with a new emperor.

Whether or not this year of no emperor will be looked at in the same way as the Year of Four Emperors, which transitioned into the Flavian and Antonine dynasties, is unknown, just as it was unknown in 69 AD. This age could be analogous to Year of the Six Emperors, which occurred during the Crisis of the Third Century. This year of no emperor could be the beginning of the end or just the end of the beginning. Whatever comes next, however, will be nothing like the present or past.

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